Chapter 39:  Wild Times (Part B) by Michael Keens/ Exodus  

Shortly after a piece of Abby’s past had been revealed, we had hastily moved 
on, we still had a crisis in the Safari Zone to avert.  
I had moved ahead in the group and caught up to Rick, we hadn’t had that much 
time to get acquainted.  
“I wish we had more time to talk, I’m sure you have stories to tell.” he 
smiled.  
“You can say that again, but, don’t take that literally.”  
“This is quite a place, I caught two Pokémon the last time I was here.” Rick 
stated.  
“Just the one.” I said, referring to my time here, “I ran into a bit of 
trouble.  
Nearly died here actually, but a Dratini saved my life.”  
“Male or female?” inquired Rick.  
“How should I know?...  Uh, male I guess.” I answered with initial 
uncertainty.  
“Good, or Wyvern would owe you a favour, but I’d undoubtedly have to help out.” 
grinned Rick.  
“Wyvern being?...”  
“My Dratini, but she evolved already.” answered Rick.  
“We’ve got a little way to go Tetsubo, so why don’t you update me on how things 
have been.” said Great Uncle Slowpoke.  
“Well, I shouldn’t go talking about all my Pokémon in front of Rick, that would 
defeat the purpose of us being rivals.” I explained, giving a friendly wink 
towards Rick.  
“All I know is that you found and won our bounty of TMs and came out of here 
with a Grass-type.” said Slowpoke.  
“I’ve been around, made a lot of friends, and generally helped out wherever I 
could.” I explained briefly but pleasantly.  
“I’m glad to hear it, your parents will be proud too.” smiled Slowpoke.  
“I know they are, but that’s another story we don’t have time for, but don’t 
worry, someday I’ll write a story about all my travels.” I said absently.  
“You sure you’ll be able to mention Everything you’ve done?” questioned Rick.  
“Of course, it’d make a good long read.” I winked...  

We continued on, trampling through the bushes to reach the source of the 
problem.  
I heard a faint squeal, or at least I thought I did, and turned to the others 
to confirm this, but they didn’t react at all, I took another step forward, and 
heard it again, and ran.  
“Hey Tetsu’!” shouted Rick.  
“Where are you going?!” added Emily.  
“You get to this source of yours, I’ll catch up!...” I shouted back, not 
stopping my sprint.  

The squeals got louder and louder as I charged through the Safari Zone, 
ignoring the other Pokémon as it would be timewasting, and possibly dangerous.  
This area was becoming familiar to me, as was my current action, running.  
“Of course! This was where I was chased by a Nidorino, and close to where I 
fell into a rapid river.”  
I decided to slow down before I repeated an old mistake, though I was forced 
jump into the water last time.  
Just in time too, as I stopped short of the river, and the squeals were getting 
louder and louder without my moving.  
“Its... coming from upstream...”  
What had caused me to fall towards the waterfall the last time were broken tree 
branches, and a lack of Pokémon.  
Not a problem today, as there was nothing upstream except a strange Pokémon 
silhouette, and I had all my Pokémon with me.  
Without taking too much time to think about it, I dived in, and put all my 
strength into pushing forward, against the current.  
A Pokémon was fast bobbing towards me, blue skin and many bruises, it was a 
Dratini, with no strength in it to swim.  
“It... couldn’t be...”  
I lined myself up with the Pokémon, and caught it, the Dratini had barely 
enough strength to gaze up at my face, and I think it recognised me when it 
gave off a happy look with its eyes.  
“It Is you, isn’t it, I never thought I’d have the opportunity to pay you back 
for saving my life...”  
“Draaa...” it purred happily.  
Bits of wood came floating downstream, and my strength was leaving me.  
“Go Twinkill! Go Shockwave!”  
“Star!”  
“Brrrzzz!”  
I had also switched some Pokémon before we left, and lucky I did.  
The two Pokémon appeared on land, and dived in upon seeing the situation.  
Twinkill lifted up the Dratini, while Shockwave held onto me, he was a powerful 
swimmer, and there weren’t many things that this Pokémon couldn’t handle.  

Soon enough, all four of us were safely on land, lying on the ground and 
resting, I quickly recovered, and checked the Dratini, it was fairly damaged, 
but nothing that could lead to a big injury, it was the equivalent of it losing 
badly in a Pokémon Battle.  
“Hang in there, I’m sure I’ve got something for this.” I comforted, searching 
my bag for a medicine, my spare clothes were wet, but my books were protected 
by their special waterproof covers, and at the bottom was an emergency Hyper 
Potion.  
I loaded it up, and sprayed on the medicine, covering all of the burns and 
bruises on the Dratini’s body.  
It breathed in again and again, before leaping up in happiness, but falling 
down afterwards due to lack of strength.  
“You’ll be okay, just rest a while.” I said, using the opportunity to record it 
on the Pokédex while I could.  

“Dratini, the Dragon Pokémon.  These rare Dragon-type Pokémon were said to 
exist only in myth until a while ago, they are adept swimmers and difficult to 
catch.”  

“Were you hurt by people?...”  
I was answered by a nod, and then I looked upstream, “It must have happened 
over there...  Its your choice, little Dratini, I can leave you here if you 
want, or take you with me, its no problem either way.”  
The Dratini leapt into my arms and shook its head forward, telling me the 
direction to go, I wasn’t sure if it was also accepting to join my team of 
Pokémon, so I wouldn’t even talk of putting it inside a Pokéball.  
There was a reason that not too many people owned a Dratini, they were rare to 
find, and they could easily make their escape from Pokémon Trainers.  
If I wanted this one on my side, I had to play things out right, and since we 
were in this scenario, showing it how much I cared for it might be the best 
option.  

I followed the directions of the Dratini, the rapid stream ended, and we were 
soon in a large valley, where black smoke could be seen.  
I pushed through the trees, my Staryu and Electabuzz close by in case we ran 
into any more trouble, people or Pokémon related.  
Rick, Emily, Abby, Blossom and Great Uncle stood in fairly striking action 
poses as they confronted two other familiar faces.  
“Oh look, the kid’s finally arrived, now we can do the motto.” said a familiar 
female voice.  
“Couldn’t you have done this without me? Me and Abby have already heard it 
three times...” I groaned...  

“We’re the head honchos, the ones in charge.”  
“Our deeds are big and our schemes are large.”  
“You can’t win, you’re soon going down.”  
“We’ll inherit the company, we’ll be wearing the crown.”  
“Jonathan.”  
“And Geneva.”  
“We’re the Executive Rockets and what we say, goes.”  
“And you’re going to face your greatest foes.”  

The executives, along with ten other Rocket Grunts and a large Weezing robot 
floating above ground were what we had to face, the robot had tied up and 
retracted many wild Pokémon, and the trees behind it were charred or fallen, 
presumably through the robot’s shooting on the Pokémon to weaken them.  
I stepped forward holding the Dratini, while Rick stood at my side.  
“So, you were the one who hurt this Dratini...” I accused the executives.  
“And you brought it back to us after it escaped.  Thank you.” grinned Geneva 
darkly.  
“Tetsu, why’d you bring that here?” questioned Rick angrily.  
“It was hurt, and it wanted to come, this is the Dratini that saved me.” I 
explained.  
“You’re going to need all the protection you can get, you’re outnumbered, even 
with your girlfriends.” stated Jonathan.  
“Grunts.  Get them.” ordered Geneva.  
“Go Dusty!” I shouted upon seeing them reach for their Pokéballs, we’d be 
outnumbered if we let them unleash all their monsters.  
“Venomoth!!!”  
Dusty quickly flew over the grunts and dispersed Sleep Powder all over them, 
causing them to doze off immediately.  
“No... Way...” said Jonathan in disbelief.  
“That’s an impressive Venomoth, its powder is extremely effective.” commented 
Slowpoke.  
“Thanks Unc’.” I said, thinking of how little I’d trained Dusty compared to 
some of my other Pokémon, although I had used it against some high level 
opponents, and given it a lot of care and trust, and that victory in Fuchsia 
Gym really helped its development.  
“Grrrr, we’ll just have to use our Pokémon.” grumbled Jonathan.  
“When’s that ever been an effective measure?!” questioned Geneva.  
“Since they evolved...  Go Smogger and Vermin!”  
“Weezing!!!”  
“Rati-Cate!!!”  
“Rattler and Pearl! Get those pests!”  
“Ch’arbok!!!”  
“Cllloysterrr...”  
“You up for a team battle, Rick?” I asked.  
“Just try and stop me, I choose you Ooze and Ostrio!”  
“MUUUUKKK!!!”  
“Waaaak!!!”  
“Go Shockwave! Go-”  
“Tiniii!!!” screamed the Pokémon wrapped around me.  
“Dratini?...” I inquired.  
“Looks like you’ve got this one on your team, Tetsu.” smiled Rick, “You must be 
a talented trainer, and a good person to win the trust of a rare Dragon 
Pokémon.”  
“Thanks Rick.”  
“Ugh, you’re gonna make me sick! Get those losers!” shouted Geneva.  

The battle was fairly quick, and all four participants had to concentrate on 
two Pokémon at once.  
“Waaaak!!!” screamed Rick’s Dodrio, although the heads weren’t quite 
cooperating with each other.  
“One and Two, attack that Arbok quickly, and maybe Three will join in out of 
jealousy.” briefed Rick.  
“Um, Rick, does your Dodrio have a problem?” I asked.  
“At first the two heads were the problem, I fixed that, and then it evolved.” 
he explained.  
“And the third head had a problem.  Don’t worry, I wasn’t insulting your 
training skills.  You should see my Charizard...” I offered.  
“Okay Ostrio! Drill Peck!”  
I turned to my Pokémon, who had got started without orders, Shockwave used 
Thundershock on Geneva’s Cloyster, but it withdrew into its shell, while 
Dratini was dodging toxic blasts and retaliating with Dragon Rage.  
“Ooze! Use your Acid Armour!”  
As Jonathan’s Raticate flew into the Muk and tore into it with its teeth, it 
changed into a liquid form, resonating with a venomous edge, and the Raticate 
soon wished it hadn’t ingested a blob of poison.  
The Arbok dived upwards, and came down on the Dodrio, two of the heads had the 
sense to move aside, and the troubled head was knocked unconscious.  
The two other heads looked at it, then at each other, and gave off a mischievous 
grin, as if that was part of a plan, and now, without the third head getting in 
the way, the Dodrio attacked the Arbok in perfect synchronization.  
Meanwhile, Shockwave had made a bold move and latched his hands onto the two 
parts of Pearl’s shell, and slowly but surely, forced it open, and then gave 
off a powerful Thunderbolt to the Cloyster’s insides.  
Dratini was having a little trouble though, the Weezing had tackled it down to 
the floor and was powering up for another attack.  
“Dratini!” I shouted, “You can win this, We can win this, but we have to work 
as a team.  I don’t know where your loyalties lie, but if its with me, then 
please just listen to my instructions.”  
“Dra... Tini!” it nodded.  
“Thunder Wave!”  
A cube made up of electricity appeared and shot into the Weezing before 
paralysing it, cancelling out whatever big attack it had been preparing.  
“Now use your Wrap attack!”  
“Tini!”  
The Dratini leapt up and twisted around the Weezing as it was about to unleash 
a gas attack, but its mouth and tubes were blocked, and the Weezing inflated a 
little and looked rather uncomfortable.  
“Slam attack!”  
The Dratini uncurled, but kept a firm grip on the Weezing with its tail, and 
flung it down to the ground, but it seemed like it wasn’t over just yet, as the 
Weezing bounced back up, and started to shake violently.  
“No, its going to use Self Destruct! Get out of the way!”  
I realised after saying this that the Dratini might not be fast enough to do 
that, it was very much snake-like, and couldn’t get around as fast as some 
Pokémon.  
Dratini had also realised that, and performed something I hadn’t prepared for, 
it had been a long time since we’d last seen each other, and the Pokémon in the 
Safari Zone probably fought each other on occasion, anyway, Dratini was at a 
high level, and so, evolved quickly.  
It grew in length, and some bells formed on its tail, and some wings at the 
side of its head.  
“Dragon-Nair!!!” it chanted as it took off upwards as the Weezing exploded.  
It barely managed to get clear of the blast range, but it succeeded, and dived 
down towards me and wrapped around me lovingly and happily.  

“Dragonair, the Dragon Pokémon.  A gentle mythical Pokémon that exudes a gentle 
aura.  It has the ability to change the weather, but also to fly even though it 
isn’t classed as a Flying-type Pokémon.”  

“Alright!” I cheered, while Rick came towards me and offered both his hands, I 
knew what he meant and I threw my hands forward for a successful high five.  
“That was great, Tetsu! I can’t wait until we get a chance to battle!” he 
congratulated.  
“Grrrr, don’t celebrate just yet!” shouted Geneva, “We’re still going to win!”  
The Pokémon were recalled, and the Rockets had woke up, everyone of them 
climbed into the Weezing robot, which immediately started to send out cables 
from the funnels and snatch up Pokémon, wild and ours alike.  
“Grrrr, girls, help us!” shouted Rick, when the Rockets stepped into that 
robot, rules no longer applied, the battle was open to everyone.  
“Go Nightmare.”  
“Go Solar!”  
“Hypno...”  
“Ivy-Sauuurrr!!!”  
“Good to see you again Solar, good job on the evolution.” I commented 
pleasantly.  
“Saurrr!!!” he called back.  
“Nightmare, you know what to do.”  
Abby’s Hypno once again helped by using Psychic attack to lower the robot and 
hold it in place.  
“Go Dusty, and Twinkill!”  
“Go Crusher, Go Rocky!”  
“Venomoth!”  
“Star!”  
“PINSIR!!!”  
“Golem!!!”  
The Weezing robot was a little more powerful than the executives’ last machine, 
and was fighting the psychic force, but with the additions of the Ivysaur’s 
Vine Whip to tangle it up, it was going nowhere.  
“Twinkill! Use your Ice Beam on that screen!”  
“Star!”  
With the cold ice covering it, the Rockets couldn’t see through the glass 
window, and it would fuel the next move that Rick was already initiating, we 
were on the same wavelength here.  
“Crusher! Slash attack!”  
The Pinsir leapt up and tore into the ice, shattering it, and the screen.  

“Geneva! Stop them! And put down that phone!” shouted Jonathan desperately.  
“Just hold on a sec, this is important!” she complained.  
“More important than your job, your live even?! Grrrr, Grunts! Engage weapon 
systems and prepare to escape!” shouted Jonathan, in a strong aggressive pose, 
pointing to us.  

“Tetsu, distract them quickly, I’ll free the Pokémon!” shouted Rick.  
“Dusty, Stun Spore!” I yelled out.  
“Venooo!!!”  

“Well, where are those weapons?” asked Jonathan, frozen in his pointing stance, 
before falling to the floor and unable to move an inch.  
“We can’t! I can’t feel my arms...” shouted the grunts, all frozen in different 
ways.  
“Neither can I, what about you Geneva?” asked Jonathan.  
“I’m not affected, but can I just trade numbers with my friend first?” asked 
Geneva in her usual busy manner.  
“Geneva!” shouted Jonathan.  

“Sleep Powder, Dusty!” I yelled...  

“... Um, could you call me back?...  I think I’ll need the wake up call...  
Oh...  That’s right...  You don’t know my number...” said Geneva weakly as she 
drifted to sleep.  
Geneva was snoring away while the others couldn’t move at all, and while that 
was happening, Rick’s Pinsir had freed all the Pokémon by tearing the wires 
apart.  

“Okay Rocky, finish it up, use Explosion!”  
“Go...  GOLEM!!!”  
The Golem rolled forward, glowing red as it did, it bounced up, wedged itself 
in the hole where the screen was, and exploded, destroying the machine and 
sending the Rockets upwards while the Golem landed safely, but on critical 
health.  

“We could have won...” said Jonathan in disbelief, “We could have won...  And 
Its All Your fault! You and that stupid-”  
The phone started ringing, and the wide awake Geneva opened it up, “Oh cool, 
you got my number, I have got so much to tell you...”  

The wild Pokémon turned out to be okay, and the group and I returned to the 
entrance of the Safari Zone not long after.  
“Thanks a lot Tetsubo, I owe you guys big time.” said Great Uncle.  
“You owe me twice actually.” confirmed Rick, smiling towards him.  
“I knew you looked familiar, how could I forget your face after you saved this 
place from those Rocket scientists.  The only one who I don’t recognise is this 
girl.” smiled Slowpoke, “Do you have any strange past in the Safari Zone?”  
“No Sir, this is my first time.” smiled Emily.  
“Um, Great Uncle? This Dragonair has become... rather attached to me.” I said, 
looking at the Dragonair entangled around my body.  
“Its okay Tetsubo, you saved a lot of our Pokémon from being taken away by 
those rulebreaking Rockets, if it wants to go with you, then its yours.” 
explained Slowpoke.  
“You hear that Bahamut?” I asked happily.  
“Nair?” it inquired.  
“Um, I thought it’d be a good nickname, its the name of a legendary dragon I 
read about.”  
“Nair...” smiled Bahamut, happy with its name.  
“All that’s left is to give you a Pokéball, I guess I’ll just carry you until I 
can deposit one of my Pokémon.”  
“So, you four will be continuing your journey I suppose.” said Slowpoke.  
“I’m afraid so, you’re worried about more people stealing the Safari Zone 
Pokémon, aren’t you?” I presumed sadly.  
“Yes I am, I’d go out and capture some Pokémon to help, but I’m too old for 
that sort of thing.” said Slowpoke sadly, pretty much giving us all a big hint 
and making us feel guilty.  
“Well...  I guess I’ll donate one of my Pokémon to your cause.” I offered with 
difficulty.  
“Oh Tetsubo, I couldn’t let you do that.” said Great Uncle.  
“No, its okay, protection of the Safari Zone far outweighs my goal, I’ll be 
fine, and so will you.” I said, handing over Dusty’s Pokéball, “Can I just say 
goodbye first?”  
“Perfect Tetsubo, this Venomoth’s powders are the most powerful ones I’ve seen, 
thank you so much for your sacrifice.” said Slowpoke pleasantly as he opened 
the Pokéball.  
“Dusty, I’d really like for you to stay here and help Great Uncle Slowpoke 
protect the Safari Zone, you proved how effective you are against Pokémon 
thieves today.” I said, a little depressed at my sacrifice for the greater 
good.  
“Veno...” said Dusty sadly, he was ready to do what I asked, but he was upset 
to be leaving me.  
“Don’t worry Dusty, my house is just around the corner, I’ll visit you real 
soon, and we’ll always be friends.”  
“Veno...” he said a little happier, it wasn’t like this was the final goodbye, 
I could visit him whenever I wanted.  
I gave my Bug Pokémon one big hug, and then used a new Pokéball to catch my new 
Dragonair, and then began walking away with the others.  

We all stopped on the Fuchsia Path, a significant place for me as I had caught 
Dusty on this very road.  
“Well, I have work to do, I suppose I’ll be talking to you two soon enough.” 
said Blossom, preparing to leave, “It was very nice to meet you Emily, and you 
too Abby.  I wish all of you good luck on your journey...”  
“Thanks.” said Rick and I.  
“So, are you up for that battle before we depart?” I asked.  
“I’ve been thinking about that, and I’m going to decline.  Remember that you 
got some of my Pokémon blown up, it wouldn’t be fair to deprive you of the best 
challenge you’ll ever have.” replied Rick confidently.  
“You’re that good huh?” I smiled, offering my hand.  
“Tetsu, if you want to be a Pokémon Master, you’ve got to have the absolute 
confidence that you can beat anyone, like I do.” stated Rick.  
“I do, most of the time, but its also important not to underestimate any foe, 
you should meet my friend Chad, and see what an excessive amount of self 
confidence can do for a person.” I added, we both had different ways of 
thinking, and a lot we could learn from each other.  
“Well Tetsu, it looks like we’ve both got interesting lives to lead, I’m 
looking forward to the Pokémon League, maybe we’ll be put against each other.” 
smiled Rick.  
“First things first Rick, I’ve got to win another Gym Badge.” I stated.  
“How hard can it be? I’ve done it and so have your gals, don’t disappoint me 
Tetsu.” ordered Rick pleasantly.  
“Don’t worry, I’ll do anything but disappoint you.” I replied.  
With that, we slapped our right hands together and gave each other a solid 
handshake, before we went on our own paths, Rick heading north, and the girls 
and I heading south.  
“I suppose this means Green is back then...” frowned Abby, now that my 
attentions were focused on the girls and not on my friendly rival.  
“Afraid so, but its not what you may think.  Emily and I are no longer 
involved, but we still have a friendship to piece back together, this doesn’t 
make you any less than a close friend Abby, so don’t think any different.” I 
explained quietly.  
“Okay Tetsubo, I-”  
“Come on guys, we’ve got to get Tetsubo moving, and make sure he gets into the 
League!” called out Emily, interrupting Abby, and grabbing both our hands and 
hurrying us along.  
Looks like the road ahead was changing...  For the better...  

End of Chapter 39B  

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Back to Story List #21 - #40
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